


Alliance

by theron09



Category: Leverage
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 01:18:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2832920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theron09/pseuds/theron09
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot discovers some things when the Leverage team tries to steal the same book as Quinn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alliance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StarlingGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlingGirl/gifts).



> The leveragexchange is still my favourite exchange ever - thanks to telaryn and fleurlb for being wonderful mods as always!
> 
> StarlingGirl, I hope you like this - I had lots of fun writing it for you. Merry Christmas!

“I hate these things,” says Eliot, navigating his way through the crowd of people who are gathered at the charity auction.

“We know.” Parker is replying over the comms from her spot outside in Lucille 4.0, but Eliot is still well aware she’s rolling her eyes. “But you’re the best one out of the three of us for this grift.”

Edging his way carefully past a waiter carrying a tray full of glasses of champagne, Eliot doesn’t answer. Instead, he scans the room until he spots their mark. It’s not hard to find Greg Levy – he is the host, after all, and seems determined that everyone should know it.

Eliot scowls. “This is why I hate these things.”

“Why?” asks Parker.

“Nine times out of ten, it’s not for charity at all. It’s for the egos of the rich people who buy and to cover up illegal doings on the part of the guy running it.”

“You’re very cynical, Eliot,” Hardison chimes in over the comms.

“Just going off the evidence in front of me. Okay, I’m going to approach the mark now, introduce him to this _good ol’ boy from Texas_.”

“Good luck, cowboy.”

There’s only around fifteen minutes left until the auction starts so Eliot knows he needs to be quick getting Levy’s attention. He bumps into one of the other guests as he walks in Levy’s direction, something he learned from Sophie – be a little bit clumsy so the mark notices you, then prove your worth to keep his attention. Just as Levy looks up in his direction, though, everything goes dark.

“Power’s out,” he says, talking in a low voice even though he doesn’t really need to. The sudden loss of light is causing a commotion loud enough to ensure no-one close to him will hear him. “Was it us?”

“Not my fault,” Hardison replies. “Could just be a coincidence.”

“At an event like this? I don’t think so.” Eliot listens to what is going on around him. There’s a lot of panicked muttering, the whirring of a back-up generator trying to start up and, sure enough, the thump of a fist hitting someone. “Guards are being taken out. What do you want me to do, Parker?”

“I need you to get me inside. We’ll forget the grift and steal the book right out of Levy’s private collection tonight. He’ll know it’s gone tomorrow, but we’ll use that against him.”

Eliot’s not exactly sure where Parker is planning on going with their con now, but he’s been working with her long enough to trust her. There’s a reason Nate chose her to follow in his footsteps, after all.

“Eliot?”

“Head to the side entrance – I can get there easiest. Give me two minutes.”

By the time he gets to the door, Parker’s already waiting for him. She shines a flashlight in his face and laughs when he swears.

“Come on, Eliot, let’s go steal Levy’s private collection.”

She always thinks it’s funny, using Nate’s old catchphrase. To be fair, it kind of is.

The room where Levy keeps his private collection isn’t well-guarded. It doesn’t need to be; the items inside are protected by some of the best security systems out there. Eliot is looking forward to watching Parker crack them. As they enter the room, the back-up generator finally kicks into action and the lights come back on. Eliot closes the door quickly behind them – if the power is back on, they’re not going to have long to do this and they don’t need to advertise their presence – and turns to look at Parker, who is standing stock-still and gaping. He follows her gaze until he sees why. They’re not alone.

“Sure wasn’t expecting to see you two,” says the other inhabitant of the room.

“Quinn.” Eliot’s tone sounds awkward to his own ears, probably because the situation _is_ awkward. The last time they’d met, Quinn had been helping them take down Dubenich and Latimer. Things had ended on a friendly note. Now, they had a problem.

Quinn doesn’t seem to be phased, grinning at them both even as he finishes approaching the case that’s holding the bookthey’re apparently all here to steal. “Bit of a coincidence, isn’t it? What are you two here for?”

“That,” says Parker, pointing at the book. “We need it more than you do.”

“Now how do you know that?” asks Quinn, looking indignant. “Spencer, relax a little, will you? We don’t need to fight.”

Eliot hadn’t even realised he’d tensed up, but he forces himself to take a step backwards and unclenches his fists. He doesn’t _want_ to fight Quinn again; the other hitter could be a useful ally in the future. He opens his mouth to tell Quinn just that – and that’s when the alarms start blaring.

“Your exit or mine?” asks Quinn.

Parker doesn’t take the time to answer, just starts leading the way as if she knows Eliot and Quinn will both follow. They do.

 

~~

“You guys have a restaurant now?” asks Quinn, looking around at his surroundings. “I’m impressed; it looks good – I mean, I’d have to try the food to be sure, but-”

Eliot interrupts Quinn mid-sentence, walking around to stand behind the counter and opening the till to check the day’s takings. “The food’s good.”

“Do I get to try some?”

“If you walk away from the book,” says Parker.

Quinn shakes his head. “Sorry, can’t do that.”

Eliot glances at the other hitter – he doesn’t look sorry in the slightest. “You’re gonna have to.”

“ _You_ owe me the favour, remember?”

“I haven’t forgotten. But Levy’s actions last month led to a family losing their home and an innocent man being sentenced to five years.”

“And if I don’t steal this book for the people who hired me, my sentence’ll be a lot worse than that.”

Eliot shrugs. “Unhappy clients after revenge are part of being a hitter.”

“Not if you’rea _good_ hitter, it’s not.” Quinn smirks, and Eliot is reminded of the first time they met. The stakes had been high and they hadn’t known each other, but even then they’d had a weird game of one-upmanship going on.

“We need that book.”

“So do I. I have a reputation to uphold.”

Eliot snorts, going for the ultimate insult. “What reputation? I’d never heard of you.”

“You know,” says Hardison, “there’s actually a pretty simple solution that means y’all can stop fighting and we can all be happy. Quinn needs the book, right?”

Quinn nods. “I really, really do.”

“Well, we don’t need it long-term, just for the con. You let us use it for our grift, you can have it once we’re done. We take down Levy, you make your clients happy.”

“Sounds good. One condition,” Quinn says, “I’m in on the con.”

Parker shakes her head. “No, I don’t trust you.”

“Same. I want to be able to keep an eye on the book.”

“I don’t trust you,” Parker repeats.

Eliot sighs. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I do. Trust Quinn, I mean, at least a little bit. I don’t think he’s trying to trick us.”

Parker looks at him for a moment, assessing, and then shrugs. “Fine. You’re in, Quinn.”

“My hero,” Quinn mocks, clasping his hands over his heart and leaning towards Eliot.

Eliot clears his throat and tries to look unaffected.

~~

When Eliot had supported Quinn’s attempts to worm his way onto their con, he hadn’t anticipated that he’d end up babysitting the other hitter while Parker and Hardison got to do the fun stuff. And yet, here he was, playing look-out with Quinn while Parker took his place as grifter and Hardison got to blow things up.

“You know, it wasn’t this boring last time I worked with you.” Quinn leans back against the wall of the building, tilting his head as he looks at Eliot. “Or this cold.”

“You’re a hitter.”

“So?”

“So, I know for a fact you’ve been in both more boring and colder positions than this.”

“Thinking about my positions, Spencer? Kinky.” Quinn waggles his eyebrows, laughing. They’ve been working together for two days now and the other hitter has insisted on turning everything Eliot says into an innuendo.

Usually, Eliot would have punched Quinn by now, but there’s something about the other hitter that stops him. Teasing he’d usually find annoying and invasive, he’s finding funny. A few times, Eliot’s even found himself teasing back. This time, though, he just punches Quinn in the arm. Hard.

“It shouldn’t be much longer now, anyway,” he says, “Hardison will be hacking into the systems as we speak.”

“And then you’ll have your justice and I’ll have my stolen goods.” Quinn grins. “All will be right with the world once again.”

“You’re very snarky, you know that?”

“I’ve been told that before and – what was that?” Quinn’s standing up straight even before he’s finished speaking, professional mask back in place.

“You heard something?” Eliot frowns – he hadn’t.

“I think someone’s coming.”

“We’re blown.” Eliot starts mentally calculating how long it’ll take him to reach Parker and Hardison to extract them.

“Maybe not. Let’s make them think we’re just two employees taking a sneaky break from work.”

“And how do you want to-” Eliot doesn’t manage to finish his sentence because Quinn is suddenly very close to him, and the hitter’s mouth is covering his own. It’s a while since he’s kissed a guy, but Eliot adjusts quickly enough, bringing his hand up around the back of Quinn’s neck. He can hear voices approaching, the awkward silence when the security guards – because that’s who they are – happen upon people kissing, but by the time the guards are gone again Eliot is too caught up to really notice.

It’s Quinn who pulls back, smirking at Eliot as he does so. “They thought we were a couple.”

“They thought we were kissing,” Eliot corrects.

Quinn shakes his head, nudges him in the arm. “Please, that was way too convincing to just be a kiss.”

Eliot’s quiet for a moment, taking in the half-smile Quinn’s shooting him. Quinn’s spent the last two days teasing him, he followed Eliot into a battle against Dubenich without a second thought – hell, even the first time they met, and Quinn was almost friendly as they beat the crap out of each other. And, if Eliot’s being honest, he’s given Quinn a lot more leeway than he’d have given other hitters. Maybe there’s a reason. Maybe he should do what he’d spent months encouraging Hardison to do: take a chance.

“What was it, then?” he asks, reaching out to place a hand on Quinn’s hip. “If it wasn’t just a fake kiss?”

“Maybe it was the start of something,” Quinn says, and then he pulls Eliot in again.

The next kiss they share is definitely not fake.

 

 


End file.
